Lightfoot, Franklin & White LLC elects Brian P. Kappel, R. Ashby Pate and Christopher C. Yearout as partners, effective January 1.
“We’re delighted to welcome Brian, Ashby and Chris to the partnership,” said managing partner Melody Eagan. “They have been an integral part of our firm’s success since joining Lightfoot, and I know they’ll continue to build on that growth in 2020.”
Kappel regularly represents companies involved in employment-related matters and commercial litigation, including defending against antitrust, complex class action and product liability claims. He also represents institutional and individual clients with collegiate sports and NCAA compliance-related issues.
Pate routinely takes on some of the firm’s most controversial matters involving government officials, including the 2016 judicial ethics prosecution of former Chief Justice Roy Moore. His practice also focuses on commercial and medical devices, catastrophic injury, appeals and international disputes. A trial lawyer at heart — and a former justice on the Supreme Court of the island nation of Palau — he has successfully tried several bench and jury trials to verdict, as well as presided over hundreds of cases as a trial and appellate judge in Palau. He also helped create Palau’s first-ever jury trial system.
Yearout represents clients in a broad range of practice areas including product liability, medical malpractice, corporate recoveries and toxic torts. He has tried multiple high-exposure cases to verdict and has litigated complex matters in venues from Utah to Virginia.
